RE: Alpina tweaks BMW 320d
Wednesday 5th October 2005
Alpina tweaks BMW 320d
Oil-burner gets new induction hardware and bodykit
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Long-established BMW tuner Alpina is offering a diesel -- perhaps for the first time, and showed the car off at the recent Frankfurt motor show.
The BMW Alpina D3 is based on the E90 320d, and offers 200bhp with maximum torque of 302lb-ft at 4,000rpm. That compares to 163bhp and 250lb-ft for the unaltered 320d.
The Alpina D3 will cover the 62mph sprint in 7.4 seconds and has a top speed of 148mph. Prices start at €35,900 (about £24,300), about £1,000 more than the £23,225 you'll pay for the 320d before options.
You might think that such a small increase over BMW's list price implies that Alpina has barely touched the hardware but instead has obtained most of the power and torque gains by chipping the car. However, the company's official release said that Alpina's engineers "performed intensive development work on the injection system, burn pattern, inter-cooling and exhaust gas emissions (particle filter)".
Reactions from BMW enthusiasts have been muted, with disappointment vented for the relatively low torque figure. Some wondered if a 5-Series-based D5 might be on the cards.
Pictures by Sebastian Giesler
Discussion
excuse me, but thats not the first Alpina Diesel 
Alpina D10 BiTurbo Diesel
Alpina D10 BiTurbo Diesel
alpina website said:
1999. A new era has Begun with the Alpina Diesel engine. Mr. Bovensiepen has fitted this new Diesel engine with two turbo’s which brought the output to 245HP and which made the this the worlds fasted Diesel sedan. The Diesel engine was designed at BMW but it was a joint effort of BMW and ALPINA. Alpina presented a Diesel engine for the first time in 35 years at the Geneva motor show. The car was called the D10 Bi Turbo. This was also the largest Diesel engine to ever leave the workshop at Buchloe. The 12 Cylinder engine in the E38 was bored out now to six liters and had a capacity of 430HP at the crank. With 430HP this gave Alpina 100HP gain over the standard E38 BMW !
sumplug said:
well my mate at an independant BMW garage has got a newish 120d.same engine with 163bhp.he has just put his lap top on it,and in seconds the engine is making 200bhp.he only charges a small fee for this.the results in the 120d are amazing.why isn't the engine 200bhp in standard trim?
So they can upgrade it easily and for no cost later on in model updates, pretty much everyone does it.
Ok, a diesel engine provides more torque and might therefore be a better cruiser but can someone explain the merit of a tuned diesel (I assume more power will equate to more fuel used so obvious economy advantage of diesel lost) over a 325i? Granted the 325i is still £1k more expensive than the tuned diesel but it is also faster?
Am I missing the point?
Am I missing the point?
law_kenuk said:
...can someone explain the merit of a tuned diesel (I assume more power will equate to more fuel used so obvious economy advantage of diesel lost) over a 325i? Granted the 325i is still £1k more expensive than the tuned diesel but it is also faster?...
My tuned diesel (and indeed the tuned turbo petrol car that preceded it) improved its economy after a remap. Whilst theoretically you use more fuel whilst enjoying the extra power, in the real world you get up to speed quicker or can use a higher gear to get the same acceleration as before, so you get a slightly better average.
As for tuned 320d vs. 325i (or even 330i) I'd expect performance (again in the real world, rather than on a track day or at Santa Pod) to be very similar, and the diesel will be much more economical.
On the other hand, the BMW straight six petrol engine sounds glorious and diesels sound crap.
{quote]
On the other hand, the BMW straight six petrol engine sounds glorious and diesels sound crap.[/quote]
Straight six from the 330d definately does not sound crap. Somewhere around a slightly muted 5 cylinder, except at idle (when, granted, it sounds like a minibus).
I drive a DMS chipped 330d and in real world driving it easily keeps pace with most motors. Chipping a diesel gives you reasonable standing starts (0-60 in 6 secs) and huge in-gear acceleration at the loss of some top-end. And with 45mpg on motorway trips.
Admittedly, it isn't petrol and does not spin up quite as well or rev as high, but real world it's tough to find fault with.
On the other hand, the BMW straight six petrol engine sounds glorious and diesels sound crap.[/quote]
Straight six from the 330d definately does not sound crap. Somewhere around a slightly muted 5 cylinder, except at idle (when, granted, it sounds like a minibus).
I drive a DMS chipped 330d and in real world driving it easily keeps pace with most motors. Chipping a diesel gives you reasonable standing starts (0-60 in 6 secs) and huge in-gear acceleration at the loss of some top-end. And with 45mpg on motorway trips.
Admittedly, it isn't petrol and does not spin up quite as well or rev as high, but real world it's tough to find fault with.
law_kenuk said:
Ok, a diesel engine provides more torque and might therefore be a better cruiser but can someone explain the merit of a tuned diesel (I assume more power will equate to more fuel used so obvious economy advantage of diesel lost) over a 325i? Granted the 325i is still £1k more expensive than the tuned diesel but it is also faster?
Am I missing the point?
yes
330d chipped will eat most petrol BMs for breakfast, and still give 40+ mpg. You do need to work the gearbox a bit more, but once its chipped you have useable power from under 2000 rpm through to 5000, so thats similar to a revvy petrol that comes on cam at 4 and tops out at 7.
For relaxed cruising, with excellent overtaking and good economy, you can't beat it.
Thats why after my 330d (chipped of course), the only thing with better performance was an M3. A 330i didn't even come close.
sumplug said:
well my mate at an independant BMW garage has got a newish 120d.same engine with 163bhp.he has just put his lap top on it,and in seconds the engine is making 200bhp.he only charges a small fee for this.the results in the 120d are amazing.why isn't the engine 200bhp in standard trim?
because, I think, Germany works on a power tax, hence the E46 328i had the same power as the 325i it replaced, it had to be below 200bhp...
mondeoman said:
330d chipped will eat most petrol BMs for breakfast, and still give 40+ mpg.
Is 40+ mpg realisitically achievable in the real world?
I'm not knocking, just genuinely interested. I love the motor in my 330i but my daily commute is now a 70 mile round trip. Until now, economy was never really a priority for me but I do have a certain interest now!
My trip is best descibed as 'combined' rather than urban or extra-urban and with a mix of jams interspersed with NSL blat, I average around 29mpg. This is a little shy of BMW's claimed 'combined' figure for the current 330 (mine's a 2000 vintage).
The current stock 330d equivalent figure is 37(ish) I believe which isn't really enough of a difference to worry about. What am I likely to see from a chipped 330d? (Obviously a 320d would be more economical but going from 6 cylinder petrol to 4-pot diesel might be slightly too much to take - plus some of the chipped 330d's other figures sound interesting to say the least.)
Well, I feel raped! Alpina has ripped off my car's designation! I built the real d3 from scratch in early 2004 to compete in the Gumball 3000 Rally of 2004 and 2005 etc. My 'real' McCoy d3 has 304bhp and 720Nm torque. It pulls like a train and has a top speed of 161mph GPS verified and does the 1/4 mile in 13.9 secs. It is a serious M3 contender for performance and as you can see in the media section on our website, even Performance BMW put it as the fastest road going diesel in the UK. Here is the 0 to 124mph (200kmh) to 0 run:
http://videos.onestopwebhosting.com/Videos/antandpete0-200kmh-0.wmv
Some more info: 0-60 in 5.9, 0-100 in 14.1, average OBC mpg at the moment 37.6, average mpg for Gumball Rally 2005 was 26... It can travel from Manchester to London and back on one tank of Diesel and still have 1/4 left for a trip to Blackpool (it does 51mpg religiously on the motorway).
There is not 1 single petrol BMW in the world that can touch those figures, so as far as I am concerned, the prehistoric petrol engine is obsolete. No BMW Petrol can match this all round performance, let alone driveability. As for engine sound? Well, as you can here in the video - more like a V8 than diesel.
See the website for more info...
www.antandpete.co.uk
ant.
Pah, diesels are still pants for enjoyment when driving.
Boost issues, sudden and urgent torque delivery, tyre shredding in half the time a similar powered petrol car would burn away it's boots.
Diesels are good, but they are still miles away from being as fun to drive as a petrol.
I don't have any experience of a super modern BMW diesel, but I still can't believe that throttle response is instant and linear like a petrol, that you can lift a few mm of throttle travel to bring the front end slightly more in line, and then an instant later apply that same power back in an instant and linear fashion.
This isn't the downside of a diesel, it's the downside of forced induction based off an impeller that is not driven in a linear fashion proportionate to the crank speed.
Diesels are great to fly from point to point faster and more easily and more economically than their equivalent powered petrol models.
But if I had the choice, I'd hoon along my favourite road in a 130i with 260bhp listening to the glorious exhaust and induction noise, rather than the dull drone and whistle of a diesel with oodles more torque but much less response and sense of interaction.
Even VAG's 1.8T with all the fancy gubbins on a PETROL model in the lowest boost setup (150bhp) gets caught napping and is horribly bland on the throttle vs a decent petrol car.
Until they supercharge a diesel and give it a bit more spark on the response side I'll be sticking to petrol for my cheap thrills!
Dave
Boost issues, sudden and urgent torque delivery, tyre shredding in half the time a similar powered petrol car would burn away it's boots.
Diesels are good, but they are still miles away from being as fun to drive as a petrol.
I don't have any experience of a super modern BMW diesel, but I still can't believe that throttle response is instant and linear like a petrol, that you can lift a few mm of throttle travel to bring the front end slightly more in line, and then an instant later apply that same power back in an instant and linear fashion.
This isn't the downside of a diesel, it's the downside of forced induction based off an impeller that is not driven in a linear fashion proportionate to the crank speed.
Diesels are great to fly from point to point faster and more easily and more economically than their equivalent powered petrol models.
But if I had the choice, I'd hoon along my favourite road in a 130i with 260bhp listening to the glorious exhaust and induction noise, rather than the dull drone and whistle of a diesel with oodles more torque but much less response and sense of interaction.
Even VAG's 1.8T with all the fancy gubbins on a PETROL model in the lowest boost setup (150bhp) gets caught napping and is horribly bland on the throttle vs a decent petrol car.
Until they supercharge a diesel and give it a bit more spark on the response side I'll be sticking to petrol for my cheap thrills!
Dave
Hi Dave,
I can see that you really like your petrols, (indeed so do I, my weekend hoon is an M3 CSL). You have some good personal points RE Petrol V Diesel, but you are so wrong on your facts. How can you base your post on your lack of knowledge? You really must drive a modern 330d with VNT turbo to find out. The mapping of a diesel is the hardest thing to get right, but when perfected, any lag or unresponsiveness is eliminated.
"Boost issues, sudden and urgent torque delivery, tyre shredding in half the time a similar powered petrol car would burn away it's boots."
ROFL.... What a statement! Many thanks for the humour!
Anthony.
I can see that you really like your petrols, (indeed so do I, my weekend hoon is an M3 CSL). You have some good personal points RE Petrol V Diesel, but you are so wrong on your facts. How can you base your post on your lack of knowledge? You really must drive a modern 330d with VNT turbo to find out. The mapping of a diesel is the hardest thing to get right, but when perfected, any lag or unresponsiveness is eliminated.
"Boost issues, sudden and urgent torque delivery, tyre shredding in half the time a similar powered petrol car would burn away it's boots."
ROFL.... What a statement! Many thanks for the humour!
Anthony.
Truckosaurus said:
On the other hand, the BMW straight six petrol engine sounds glorious and diesels sound crap.
I'll concede that 4-cylinder diesels do sound attrocious. Was at a rolling road day with my friends at SEATCupra.Net and there were a couple of tuned TDIs on the rollers. Geez what a racket! It honestly sounded like an Intercity 125!
Just don't notice it on the move though. I've got a video clip of my old Ibiza TDi 130 at Donington with the SCN lot, and as it goes past the camera all you can hear is the turbo whistle, nothing else. Good for low dB track days
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